No plan to withdraw ban on non-filers buying new vehicles, asserts Miftah Ismail

KARACHI – Pakistan's minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs has announced that a ban on income tax non-filers from purchasing automobiles will not be withdrawn.

“We will not withdraw the ban imposed on non-filers from buying new motor vehicles,” Miftah Ismail said on Saturday.

“The government had first barred non-filers from purchasing property that had a declared value of over Rs4 million but that was later increased to Rs5 million.”

The issue of tax amnesty is under review by the Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar and will be decided at his discretion, the minister added.

Last month, the government had proposed ban non-filers from purchasing property that had a declared value of over Rs4 million and it also put curbs on them from buying new motor vehicles in budget 2018.

According to new policy, people will not be allowed to buy a new vehicle, local or imported, worth over Rs4 million, until they file income tax return.

Budget 2018: Non-filers will not be able to purchase new cars

The new step taken by the government is to encourage non-filers to file income tax returns, which will increase the revenue of the government.